NASA's big announcement

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2008-05-14 12:59am

Dark Matter will probably be a huge find by and large, though I thought the black hole at the center of the galaxy is a done deal by now.

Old Plympto · Post by **Old Plympto** » 2008-05-14 01:23am

Radio Astronomer #1: "That's not background EM noise."

Radio Astronomer #2: "Sounds acoustic."

RA#1: "It sounds like a definite twanging, like a guitar. But it sounds different."

RA#2: "Like a sitar? An Indian sitar?"

RA#1: "Good lord! Yes it sounds like rhythmic sita- wait... is that-?"

RA#2: "Verbal noises? Is that a voice?"

RA#1: "It sounds... Oh My God! It's in English! Write it down!"

RA#2: "First word: I? I've?... Got? Two?"

RA#1: "No.. 'To'. Tee oh."

RA#2: "Find? I- no, my? Way? Out? Of? Here? Said? The? Joker? T- Waaait a second."

RA#1: "Hang on. I think I crossed our cable TV wire with the telescope. The Sci-Fi channel's still on."

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2008-05-14 02:58am

WASHINGTON -- NASA has scheduled a media teleconference Wednesday, May 14, at 1 p.m. EDT, to announce the discovery of an object in our Galaxy astronomers have been hunting for more than 50 years.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24603117

Invictus ChiKen · Post by **Invictus ChiKen** » 2008-05-14 05:21am

Galvatron wrote:
WASHINGTON -- NASA has scheduled a media teleconference Wednesday, May 14, at 1 p.m. EDT, to announce the discovery of an object in our Galaxy astronomers have been hunting for more than 50 years.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24603117

I got an article on Velcro... Anyway like another poster I am going to live in a world where my day of birth becomes the day they announced finding ET...

Molyneux · Post by **Molyneux** » 2008-05-14 12:43pm

Almost time for the announcement, isn't it?

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2008-05-14 01:07pm

I haven't been this disappointed since I found out about Santa Claus.

a Supernova? Fucking yay. I hope someone at NASA gets fired for this.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2008-05-14 01:08pm

I missed this as he did it after I checked my morning blogs, but Bad Astronomy scooped them by an hour

http://www.badastronomy.com/

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2008-05-14 01:15pm

This is so......... meh.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2008-05-14 01:15pm

I bet that NASA dude Ender was talking about was gloating because he KNEW how utterly bummed out people like us would be.

Singular Intellect · Post by **Singular Intellect** » 2008-05-14 01:17pm

Talk about anti climatic!

Yeah, supernova's are a interesting phenomenon, but hardly worth the whole "We got a surprise!" media I've been seeing.

Commander 598 · Post by **Commander 598** » 2008-05-14 01:42pm

Haha, you had faith in NASA.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2008-05-14 01:48pm

A supernova is cool and all, but I was hoping they found adequate funding.

apocolypse · Post by **apocolypse** » 2008-05-14 02:02pm

That's it?

Commander 598 · Post by **Commander 598** » 2008-05-14 02:06pm

Ender wrote:A supernova is cool and all, but I was hoping they found adequate funding.

This feels like an unintentional burn on NASA.

Invictus ChiKen · Post by **Invictus ChiKen** » 2008-05-14 02:18pm

I suggest we all call and complain about this. NEXT time you do a big announcement make it for something worthwhile...

The Vortex Empire · Post by **The Vortex Empire** » 2008-05-14 03:16pm

A Supernova? That's it?

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2008-05-14 04:18pm

Uh...guys...a star blew up.

I'm not sure why you think it ain't cool.

Singular Intellect · Post by **Singular Intellect** » 2008-05-14 04:27pm

PeZook wrote:Uh...guys...a star blew up.

I'm not sure why you think it ain't cool.

Because statistically speaking a very large number of stars are blowing up every second, and this one is unique only so far as it's a nova only 140 years old and we can see it.

Your astromony specialist and hobbist might find this very exciting news, but for your average joe this is nothing more than a "meh, guess I'll see some nice pics here and there if I bother to look it up". It's the equivalent of a paleontologist discovering some new fossil, yet the news hype prior to relevation might've convinced some that he had discovered a living dinosaur instead. The former only interests a few, the latter would interest a very great many.

Now, had the star gone nova via some really kick ass alien ship also spotted in our telescopes, you'd have quite a bit more interest on everyone's part.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2008-05-14 04:44pm

Shinova wrote:This is so......... meh.

This calls for a reenactment! I'll be the NASA guy.

*Runs in*

Everyone! I have a HUGE announcement from NASA! You won't believe it... it's huge! This is just so amazing. Oh my god, I can hardly believe it myself! This is it! The big announcement we've all been waiting for! It's just so goddmaned big... oh my god! How-lee shit!! You want the big reveal? I be you do! Then you need to be here tomorrow for our official NASA announcement!

(Now you guys be the excited lemmings who actually think I'll say something totally awesome).

Alerik the Fortunate · Post by **Alerik the Fortunate** » 2008-05-14 04:59pm

This was just a test to see how people would react to a big announcement. The actual first contact press release is for next week.

I wish. I had actually gotten my hopes up for something dark matter related, but I don't think they've actually been looking for it for 50 years. Evidence of a Dyson sphere would have been nifty, though.

Fingolfin_Noldor · Post by **Fingolfin_Noldor** » 2008-05-14 05:38pm

This wouldn't be the first supernova to be studied, so I am, even as one with a B. Sci in Physics, find it meh.

Post by **RogueIce** » 2008-05-14 05:49pm

This just reminds me of the Simpsons episode when NASA was desperately trying to get people interested in the space program again.

I mean seriously, I wasn't expecting alien life or an asteroid about to destroy the Earth or anything, but why the heck did they feel the need to try and build hype over this? Instead of just coming out and saying, "Yep, we're gonna see a supernova"?

Wyrm · Post by **Wyrm** » 2008-05-14 06:14pm

Actually, this is pretty damn exciting, not in a "WOW! That's spec-fucking-tacular!" way, but a "We are going to get SO much yummy-tummy data from studying this thing!"

Dooey Jo · Post by **Dooey Jo** » 2008-05-14 06:34pm

NASA: We're holding a press conference about a recent find that's pretty neat.
Internet: ZOMGZ Aliens! Azteroidz! Bruze Williz save us! *big eyes full of expectation*
[later]
NASA: Behold! It's a close and recent supernova! Now we can measure stuff more accurately.
Astronomers: Yay!
Internet:

Also: How are you supposed to "directly" observe dark matter via radio and x-ray telescopes?

starslayer · Post by **starslayer** » 2008-05-14 06:39pm

Note to everyone saying it was dark matter: not to rain on your parade some more (I think NASA kinda just pulled out some torrential stuff there), but why would an X-Ray telescope be seeing dark matter, which does not interact with any EM radiation at all? The way dark matter will be "directly" detected is almost certainly going to be at the LHC or something similar. If a dark matter particle is created in one of the collisions, it will be seen as some missing mass, momentum, and energy that can't be explained by a neutrino flux, etc.

Still, a young supernova remnant is a very important find, as the Bad Astronomer explained. Although Bubble Boy is right about what Joe Blow's reaction is going to be. Too bad.

Oh, side note: we know dark matter exists. Our rotational dynamics are not so bad that we wouldn't know dark matter existed by now. The debate is over what of kind of particle/object dark matter actually is. The supermassive black hole at the galactic center is also not in dispute. It's too massive to a be a neutron star or an enormous collection of neutron stars (objects we have direct observations and proof of) and a couple of the stars orbiting at the very center have come within a few AU of it IIRC. It simply has to be a black hole.

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